Friday, 5 November 2010

Quite a bit has happened since I last blogged. Mainly stuff to do with uni, and me meeting my new flatmate (who is awesome btw), had an awesome flat-warming party and also I seem to have managed to both gain a boyfriend and then lose him again. Bit of a mix of good and bad.
This week has been really horrible though. Everyone else seems to get a reading week but we always end up with exams. I've had three big exams, which has meant no fun - just revision. I had my last exam today - I'm so happy they're over.

Not that all the exams were horrible. I had one on Wednesday that I got 95% on. 95!!! Thats like half a question wrong. I was very impressed, especially after the day before was horrible.
Tuesday's exam was Pharmacology. I find the subject interesting, but I'm not very anamoured with the lectures and this exam was a timed essay - the one kind of exam I really hate. The question was split into six things and we had to choose 4 to write about. I think I managed to write one fairly well, but the other three were pure guesswork. I came out of the exam nearly in tears it was that bad and I feel horrible - especially since I've looked over my notes and realised I know a helluva lot more than I put down.
My last exam was a good one again - Multiple Choice Questions, and I was confident about 80% of the test. We'll see how I did when I get the results.

After the exam we made the decision to go to starbucks. I am so glad we did - THE RED CUPS ARE BACK!!!!
This has basically made my week so much better. I love the red cups.
Everyone seems to have one thing which puts them into the christmas mood. For one friend its when the christmas coca-cola adverts come on tv, another its the christmas lights switch-on but for me, it is the day starbucks bring out those red take-out cups, decorate everything with snowflakes and I take my first sip of yummy gingerbread latte.
So it is now the run-up to christmas for me. I will start considering christmas gifts and deciding which family I want to spend christmas day with (thats a whole new blog post).

It's bonfire night tonght, which means lots of fireworks and smoke. We're going to a public display close by, unfortunately without my flatmate as she's scared of fireworks :(
After the display we're thinking of going for a few drinks which may or may not turn into a girls' night out.
Tomorrow is my friend's 21st birthday aswell - he's having a house party and after the week I've ended up having, I'll be planning on getting very messy :p I think he said something about drinking so much he doesn't want anyone able to walk home.

So, here's to me hopefully being able to live through my hangover come Sunday lol.

Thursday, 16 September 2010

Hey folks, I'm back!
Im sorry for disappearing for such a long time, there isn't really any excuse but I'm gonna try hard to post regularly from now on. Feel free to shout all you want, I deserve it.
A lot has happened since I last posted, I'll update you but I'll do it slowly, over a few posts if thats ok.

Firstly, here's the update on the uni stuff. I finished my first year of uni, but I didn't pass some modules so had to do some resit work over the summer. I was working my butt off trying to get everything in on time, and I think I managed it, but I still haven't got the results yet. They're due this week, and I'm getting really impatient - I'm supposed to start again next week!
Due to the results being released so late, I haven't been able to take part in the US exchange trip I was hoping for. I would've been a month or so late to start so, when I had a chat with my tutor, we decided it was best for me to stay here and work on passing - without the extra stress it would bring.

So in anticipation of starting Uni next week, I've moved into my new student digs for this year. So much moving around ... I'll end up confused where I live by the end of my degree!
At the moment it feels like I'm the only one here. I think I moved in before the big rush, and I haven't met the girl I'll be sharing with yet. Hopefully she'll move in this weekend. I hope we get on ok.

I still have a bit of unpacking to do, so I'll leave you with that for now, but I'll post again either later today or in the next couple of days.

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

I turn 21 today! (well technically it is today anyway, since its about 2am on the 17th here)

I'm having a party tonight, so no doubt I will post about that and how it goes. Especially since it is a fancy dress party and I plan on getting very drunk so I don't realise how stupid I look :-p
For now though, I'm heading to bed. I have a very busy day tomorrow and need sleep!!!

Thursday, 11 March 2010

On the 21st March I will be running the Sports Relief mile in crazy fancy dress with two of my friends. I will most likely be hungover whilst doing this, as I am going out the night before.

We have made a team named Manilla, Mango and the Flying Squirrel! (don't ask)
If there was any chance of you donating to Sports Relief would you think about doing that by sponsoring the team or me as an individual? We have a low target, and would really appreciate any support at all. Just follow the link below to have a look. It is a registered charity, and everything is secure...there's info on the website all about it.

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

I'm incredibly bored atm, so I thought I would do a blog post and get an early night - I have a meeting tomorrow with my personal tutor at 9am, which means its gonna take me an hour or so to set enough alarms to get me out of bed...I'm just not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore :-p

I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite books, and hope that you return the favour. I always love finding new series to read.
I always find it really difficult to pick only a few books for a list. My faves list depends on my mood, what I'm reading at the time, what books I have with me, and a few other things which I have no idea about. I often have more than one series on the go, so I'm just going to reel off a short list of books which I've been reading recently. Its just easier than trying to figure out my faves. No doubt I'll share more books in the future anyway.

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Ok, last post for today, I promise. I just remembered I had some pretty big news to share.

I've been accepted onto the exchange program at Uni :-D

I got the letter yesterday and after dancing around the flat for a little bit I sat down and read it properly. I still have to wait for SDSU to accept me personally, and send confirmation, but I've been told there's no reason why I shouldn't be accepted. I also spotted that I was supposed to go to a workshop that day (good job I checked my mail eh?).

So off I ran to this workshop. They gave us info on the visas, and what we had to do as far as paperwork was concerned, and I met someone else who is going to the same place (a few people hadn't shown up) so that was cool. Then we got to talk to US students who are on exchange here.

I spoke to a really nice girl from Louisiana State Uni. She didn't know much about South Dakota, understandably. Its probably like me trying to give someone info on a London University, but further away. She did manage to give me an idea of what studying in the US is going to be like. And she gave us all a few tips, and basically just had a really cool conversation with us.

She also told me to go to Louisiana for Mardi Gras if I get the chance - specifically New Orleans. I've seen and heard so much about it, I might just do that. I can bet it'll be an experience of a lifetime!
So now, after speaking to her, I really really cannot wait. I'm back to dancing with impatience at wanting to get stuff sorted, but I don't want to do anything till I get confirmation. Gah! I have so much nervous energy!

We had some great sunshine today too, it kinda fit my mood. Everyone was sunbathing but I didn't join in - it was still chilly, but you'd almost think it was spring already! ;-)
I wanted to share. I'll keep you updated on any progress.

Wednesday, 3 March 2010

I've been trying to get some sleep for the past 4 hours, but its just not happening. I've tried everything from a warm drink to playing music to counting sheep and nothing seems to work. Its now 7am and I have given up. I have an exam at 11 and I'm scared if I fall asleep now I'll sleep through my alarms and miss it. I probably should have gone to bed sooner. So I'm now drinking caffeine and hoping I can last until this afternoon.
*sigh*

In other news, I went shopping earlier and spent far too much. I've spent the entire week's budget (and a bit more besides) and I'm not sure it will last that long. Oh well. I did treat myself a bit though. I got myself a new pair of PJs which were on sale, and I bought a book I've been looking for, for about 2 years. I also went and bought a few DVDs. They were on offer, and I got 5 DVDs for £10. Bargain!
I've gone through my DVD collection so many times I'm bored of it - including the one's I've nicked from my sister...ssshhhh don't tell ;-) and I spotted some films I've wanted to watch for a while, so I figured 'why the hell not' and went for it.

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

This morning I had an exam in Genetics. It was pretty tough but I just about managed to pass, so thats spurred me on to do a bit of study work this afternoon. I'm absolutely knackered since I had very little sleep last night so I think I'm going to have a bit of a rest first - or drink lots of caffeine. Whichever works best.

I just wanted to post a quickie update. I think its been over a week since I last posted, but not an awful lot has happened. I had a pretty rough few days last week where my mood seemed to plummet and it made getting out of bed hard, and I rarely left the flat - which of course just makes it worse.
With a little help from Mum, who decided to distract me with a trip to a chocolatiere, I seem to be on the way up, and I'm feeling better, so thats good.

This weekend was Valentines. I'm normally pretty much a complete grump when it comes to V-day, but thats probably because I haven't got someone to share it with, so I don't want people to think I'm being horrible when I say its possibly one of the worst days on the calendar for me. I wasn't feelign up to going out, and I was on my own in the flat, so I decided to go all out and make an 'Anti-valentines' playlist. I know this probably makes me seem like quite a sad person, but it was actually fun! I found lots of new artists who I'd never heard of, and discovered new songs from artists I already knew. I had one rule - no love songs allowed. It's surprising though how many songs are about love.
So despite it beginning as it did, I've ended up with a great playlist full of really random, but fun songs.

I've also suddenly managed to gain about 10 books which I need to read - and I have no time to read them lol.

Yesterday was Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday. I love any excuse to eat pancakes so I had great fun! A few of us got together and went through a ton of pancakes. Its was a great night.
I got in late, and because I had been waiting for the bus in the freezing cold (puddles were turnign slushy as I watched) my knee has seized up. I ended up using a hot water bottle on it and had a pretty rough night.

Which is why I am so tired now. So I'm going to stop rambling and go get some sleep since the caffeine isn't working too well and is only giving me a headache.

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

I've just gotten back from watching Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre.

I adore going to the theatre, whether its Opera, Musicals, Ballet, Shakespeare...Anything on stage. I love it. So going to see Les Mis has been something I've wanted for a while. I used to watch a VHS my grandma had of a performance of it. I used to love watching it, but I had forgotten the storyline. I was over the moon to get tickets for Christmas.

We had really good seats, right in the middle, with a clear view of the stage and I was incredibly impressed. The way they used the stage, the props, the singing...I was hooked from the moment the lights lowered.

I was laughing and crying and cheering along the whole way through. The actors were amazing.

It was so good the whole theatre was on its feet at the end. I've been told its like that every night they've been there. I've never seen a show like it.

I'm taking a break from a mammoth homework marathon and I wanted to blog about the other day (Sunday) because it was so unusual for me.

I woke up with a bit of a hangover (I had over-indulged on alcohol on a rare night out with the sister) so I slept a little late. About 3pm I was woken by a loud banging on my room door and a familiar voice telling me to get my butt outta bed right that minute.
Once I finally managed to stumble to the door, I was reminded about an ice hockey game we had been planning to go to and I had forgotten about.

I've been fascinated by hockey for a while, but I've never seen a live game before, and when our local radio station was giving free tickets to people who hadn't been we snatched at the chance.
So I somehow managed to get showered and ready within an hour, and we left for the tram to the Ice Rink where they were playing.
After maybe 15 minutes on the tram we got off and had to walk all the way round the actual rink to be able to get to the entrance. The wait wasn't too bad and when we got in they were just about ready for the face-off.

Friday, 5 February 2010

Today I was feeling a little bit down, so I decided to meet my mum and spend the day together. Its rare that we spend much time on our own anymore, and I miss her. So she picked me up and said she'd take me food shopping.

Food shopping is one of those necessary chores which I absolutely hate. I find supermarkets too busy and frustrating, of course then it all has to be lugged home and put away. Eugh.

As much as I hate the shopping, mum makes it less of a chore. She knows I have a temptation problem when it comes to bargains and she helps persuade me away from spending my money on stupid stuff.

Thursday, 4 February 2010

You're not going to hear a lot from me today. I just want to share something with you, and I think it needs to be spread as far and to as many people in SL as possible. If we get enough people shouting, Linden Labs might listen to us!
Lindal Kidd, who happens to be a forum regular and someone I count amoung my friends, posted a thread today in the condemned forums. I am simply going to copy and paste the text with the links from both the SL forums, and the new SL Answers blogrums thread(where it got locked almost instantly - surprise surprise). I'm hoping once you have read it you will add your support and spread the word. We need to take a stand and let Linden Labs know what their customers want!

"Some of you may have read and laughed at Trout Recreant’s hilarious “Letters From the Lindens”, lampooning our Service Provider’s policies and the haphazard ways in which (it seems) they make decisions.

There have been a lot of those over the past year. The Homestead bait and switch, the introduction of themed, Linden-built mainland areas, the ghettoization of Adult Content, “Linden Homes”, the flirtation with FaceBook and Twitter, the purchase of a FaceBook clone, the abolition of the Mentors, and the abolition of the XStreetSL and the official SL Forums.

There’s more on the horizon. The imposition of script limits. A dumbed-down Viewer 2.0. Favored status for some, but not all, content creators.

With all of that, I thought it was about time that the Residents wrote a letter TO the Lindens. It’s arrogant of me, I know, to place myself in the position of speaking for “the Residents”. We are a diverse group with a wide range of opinions. Still, I think that a great many residents will agree with what I’ve written here."

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

LL have finally made the announcement we have been dreading. On the 9th of February 2010 Linden Labs will close the current vBulletin Forums and everyone is expected to use their new integrated Clearspace software blog style forums. This move has made me sad, but also pretty angry. The Linden refuse to listen to their customers, and insist on shooting themselves in the foot at every step. I'm disappointed that they insist on going ahead with such a stupid move to blog software which is, to put it simply - utter shit. I won't go into detail, just take a look at the discussion. The more I read the angrier I got. I wont post a response, because it wont do any good.

Sunday, 31 January 2010

I love this picture. It was taken at one of my fave places in Second Life. I was researching in RL, and decided to log in and sit for a while while I chatted to friends. The place is DePaul University and I just love the land. There are hideaways I use when I want to escape, and the whole place is beautiful. They even change the look of the place to change with the seasons.

We got told about a new assignment for our 'Biomolecules & Cells' module a while ago, just as forewarning. As soon as the tutor mentioned the word 'Poster' I thought it wouldn't be so bad. I've done academic posters in the past and got good marks for them. Generally I really enjoy doing the research for it and designing the layout.
This one is going to be different though.

I have just logged into our online area for updtes, and found out the rest of the assignment. The project is to create an academic poster about the specific structure and roles of the protein they have assigned us. I was expecting a protein I have heard of before, and as I looked down the list of choices I saw a few I recognised and would have chosen. Then I saw that they had assigned the protein, and we had to check ourselves.
I went to the relevant message, and checked back to see my assignment. "Quinone oxidoreductase"

I now know this is going to be a struggle. I have no idea what this is, and its going to take a lot to research it. A quick google search tells me it is 'the largest and least understood enzyme in the respiratory chain' which is so far outside my usual focus, I have no idea where to even begin.

*sigh* I guess this is what I get for thinking things so far had been relatively easy...

Friday, 29 January 2010

I've always been fussy about my taste in movies. Especially when it comes to horror/thriller films. I can watch bloody films all day long, I can sit through the Saw films or watch funny horror movies like Brain Dead or Dead Snow with no trouble. But as soon as any supernatural element (aka: ghost) is added I become the biggest wuss you ever met. I even got seriously scared at The Ring, which is usually considered pretty tame. I do not enjoy being scared at all!
Tonight me and my flatmate and his girlfriend decided to order pizza and watch movies. They went to the library to pick out a couple of DVDs while I decided to stay behind. They came back with two films. Battle Royale and Jo-on: The Grudge(the original Japanese version of The Grudge).
I knew I should have gone with them to choose.

Monday, 25 January 2010

I derserve an award for being a dunce. In the previous post I complained about ending up with white eyelashes and blamed it all on SL. In fact, this is my mistake.
I had downloaded a set of Eloh Eliot's freebie skins, but stupidly I had saved them as jpegs, and had just uploaded them straight into SL as is.
Which is fine, until I realise that there is a space in the skin mesh which has to be transparent (alpha) for the eyelashes to be ok. When you save as a jpeg of course, all the alpha textures turn white - or whatever the background colour is.

So, after fixing this by adding an alpha channel, deleting the white bits, and uploading them as tga files, It is sorted now. See? Normal Eyelashes:

I still managed to rock the white lashes for a while though, courtesy of Amaranthim Talon, creator of Talon Faire and the Eyelash Bar. (see the picture at the top of the post). She has some awesome stuff there. Go check it out!

Sunday, 24 January 2010

Basically, I uploaded a new skin today, and SL being its usual self, decided it would give me white eyelashes of all things. What you see is all the sliders for the eyelashes at the absolute minimum. I've tried going back to older display drivers, clearing the cache, relogging and restarting, rebake, everything I can think of, but this one skin just wont quit it.And the worst thing is, I love the skin! I don't want to take it off! Just look at the freckles! Aren't they gorgey?So since I don't want to part with the skin, I've decided I'm going to make the most of white eyelashes and pretend its white mascara or something. I'm going to try and make a new trend for this look lol.

So the other evening (actually it was so late it was now morning) I was reading The Undead Thread over at the SL Forums, as is normal for me, and a round of who can post the most/best youtube links started (always a lot of fun). I usually discover, or rediscover a couple of great new music loves from these rounds, and this time was no different. Not only have I found that I love BB King, but I've shared my latest earworms (Billy Rae Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart and Elton John - Bennie & The Jets) with others :-pJoshooah posted a couple of really cool songs, one of them being a cover of that great MJ hit "Beat It"...

Sunday, 17 January 2010

She makes the most amazing stuff, If I could, I'd buy the lot.
Everything is handmade, and unique. Its fun, and creative, and quirky. They're great for gifts. I bought my sister some earrings, and now they are her favourite pair. The barbie shoe earrings are a stroke of genious! Here's a couple of pictures, just to show how funky this stuff is.

So I didn't realy get inworld for very long tonight afterall, since my computer threw a paddy at me. It's lost the trick of SL, having not been online in so long, so I think it dislikes being told to do such hard work.

I'll retrain it soon enough.

I'm glad I got online though, however short a time it was. I sat at the hangout for a little bit and Maureen popped in to say hi! I snapped this quick pic, before either of us had to go again.